In addition to the function of waste removal, toilet systems are now being designed to analyze waste products for the purpose of providing health metrics. This generally requires modifications to the toilet which are difficult to manage with porcelain. Glazed vitreous porcelain has excellent strength and chemical resistance; however, it has a brittle nature and poor wall thickness and flatness tolerances. Also, the inherent shrinkage in the green ceramic, the numerous design constraints surrounding complex fluid flow pathways, and the location and kind of holes and other features desired in the modern toilet require multiple manufacturing steps, including the assembly of multiple discrete pre-molded components. Furthermore, finishing porcelain fixtures produces hazardous dust particles. After firing, machining of the ceramic toilet is only possible with diamond tooling at high expense and considerable difficulty. Furthermore, when the existing ceramic toilet is a unitary structure it is bulky and can only be serviced by complete replacement, whereas the first portion of a toilet to degrade may be only the bowl appearance.
Accordingly, there is a need for a more flexible manufacturing solution that allows easy integration of technology features including health diagnostics and more efficient water conservation, as well as being easily adaptable to a variety of settings and upgradable, and amenable to replacement and updating of components.
The toilet system of the present invention allows for greater variety in toilet manufacturing processes, installation, personal accommodations, and utility beyond waste disposal. The invention disclosed herein further allows the separate replacement of the hydraulic core module or the shell module independently at substantially lower cost.